I seriously give up. I just can't keep track. In the past few years, I've managed to consign the word 'coloured' into my great vocabulary-inhabited dustbin. As far as I was concerned, it was fine - some Londoners disagreed with me, I erred on the side of caution. But really, Oriental? For one, it's a lovely word; for another - why? I mean, really? It just means bloody Eastern.

If the various cultures of the world didn't want us to take a Eurocentric view of the world, then they should've complained a bit more when we put the prime meridian through Greenwich. East is that way, west is that way. Deal with it.

(Original post by Welsh_insomniac)
I know people generally refer people from the far east as oriental... but forgive me for my ignorance (and maybe someone can back me up or show me evidence suggesting otherwise...) but weren't those from Persia/Babylonians originally referred to as orientals?

Yeah, it's all just a matter of degree really. Near/Middle East vs the Far East. I was surprised that some Egyptians used the term 'Oriental' to describe their local food.

The term oriental isn’t used in Canada and we would never refer to East Asia as the Orient as the term is associated with racism and “Othering” of a group of people. Colloquially the term “Asian” is used to refer to East Asians but not used interchangeably with those of Arab or Middle Eastern descent